lî)G 



THE liiîlTlSli ISLES. 



West India Docks liiicl no sooner been completed than the East India Docks, 

 originally reserved to Indiamen, but now open to all vessels, were taken in 

 hand. Next followed the London Docks, still more important on account 

 of their proximity to the City and the vastness of their warehouses, more 

 especially designed for the storage of rice, tobacco, wine, and spirits. After 

 these were constructed the St Katherine Docks, on the same bank of the 

 river, and even nearer to the City than the preceding. In proportion to their 

 size they are the busiest docks of London. In order to obtain the site they 

 cover it was necessary to pull down l,2ô0 houses, inhabited by nearly 12,000 

 persons. 



Since then works more considerable still have been carried out. The 

 Victoria Docks, below the river Lea, only recently completed, cover an area 



Fig. 100. — The Docks of London. 

 Scale I : 65 500. 



1 Mile. 



of no less than 180 acres, and there is reason to believe that they will be able, 

 for some time to come, to meet the growing requirements of commerce. All the 

 docks hitherto mentioned are on the left bank of the river, but though the right 

 bank near London is of inferior importance, owing to its remoteness from the 

 City, it, too, has been furnished with docks for the storage of timber and corn. 

 Lower down, the right bank enjoys a commercial preponderance, for on it rise 

 Deptford, with its huge foreign cattle market, Greenwich, Woolwich, Gravesend, 

 Sheerness, and other towns. 



The Docks of London do not at first sight strike the beholder as much as 

 would be expected, for they are scattered throughout the meanest quarters of the 

 town, and dwarfed by the tall warehouses which surround them. If we would gain 

 a true idea of the prodigious commerce carried on within them, we must be prepared 

 to spand days, nay, weeks, within their limits, travelling from warehouse to ware- 



